Common intermediate format standardizes the horizontal and vertical pixel resolutions in Y'CbCr video (see also YUV). NTSC is 352 x 240. PAL is 352 x 288. Prefixes identify resolution changes from the standard format. For example, QCIF or "Quarter CIF" has one fourth of the area as "quarter" implies the height and width of the frame are each halved.

Clone display configuration

A type of display configuration that drives two display devices, each displaying the same content, but that can have different resolutions and (independent) timings. Compare twin-display configuration and DIH display configuration.

Contrast

Contrast is the measure of the difference between light and dark on a display. If the contrast is increased, the difference between light and dark is increased, so something white will be very bright and something black will be very dark.

COPP*

Certified output protection protocol* (COPP) is a Microsoft-defined API to provide an application with information about what output protection options are available on a system. COPP is used to control the command/status chain between applications and a graphics port driver.

D3D*

Microsoft Direct3D*, a 3-D graphics API as a component of DirectX* technology.

DC

Display configuration.

Intel® DDCT

Intel® Dynamic Display Configuration Technology (Intel DDCT).

DIH display configuration

Dual independent head. A type of display configuration that supports two displays with different content on each display device. Intel EMGD supports extended mode for Microsoft Windows systems and Xinerama* for Linux systems.

Digital rights management, a generic term that refers to access control technologies to limit usage of digital media or devices. DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.).

DTD

Detailed timing descriptor. A set of timing values used for EDID-less devices.

DVI

Digital video interface.

DVO

Digital video output.

DXVA

DirectX video acceleration API, a Microsoft API specification for the Microsoft Windows platforms that allows video decoding to be hardware accelerated. DXVA is used by the video player software to access the following hardware video acceleration features present in many Intel® chipsets:

Video decoding acceleration

Visual quality enhancement acceleration

Processing amplifier (ProcAmp)—post-processing video

Deinterlacing

Frame rate conversion

EBDA

Extended BIOS data area. An interface that allows the system BIOS and option ROMs to request access to additional memory.

EDID

Extended display identification data. A VESA standard that allows the display device to send identification and capabilities information to Intel EMGD. Intel EMGD reads all EDID data, including resolution and timing data, from the display, thus negating the need for configuring DTD data for the device. CRT/VGA monitors exchange EDID information over the I2C bus with Intel EMGD so the driver generates only display modes and timings that are compatible with the monitor to which it is connected. LVDS panels do not allow for exchange of EDID information hence these displays are called "EDID-less."

EDID-less

A display that does not have the capability to send identification and timing information to the driver and requires DTD information to be defined in the driver.

eDP

Embedded DisplayPort.

EFI

Extensible firmware interface. EFI defines an interface between an operating system and platform firmware. EFI is intended as a significantly improved replacement for the old legacy BIOS.

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver. Refers to both the graphic hardware in Intel chipsets as well as the desktop/mobile driver. The Intel GMA Driver is not intended for use in embedded applications.

GMCH

Graphics and memory controller hub.

GMS

Graphics mode select (stolen memory).

HAL

Hardware abstraction layer. An API that allows access to the Intel chipsets.

HDCP

High-bandwidth digital-content protection, a specification that uses the DVI interface. HDCP encrypts the transmission of digital content between the video source, or transmitter and the digital display, or receiver.

HDMI*

High-definition multimedia interface, an uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. It allows for transmission of digital audiovisual content on the same physical link (DVD player, TV's, set top boxes, etc.). It is defined around DVI 1.0 specification and is backward compatible with DVI command and control data. HDMI implements content protection via HDCP. Administered by HDMI LLC (limited liability corporation). Licensing and royalty fees apply.

IAL

Interface abstraction layer. An API that allows access to graphics interfaces including the GDI and DirectDraw.

A standard Microsoft Windows text file, referred to as an information file, used by Microsoft Windows operating systems to provide information to the driver. The default .inf file for the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers is iegd.inf. You can create customized parameters using the CED utility.

IP

Intellectual property.

LPCM

Linear pulse code modulation is a method of encoding audio information digitally. The term also refers collectively to formats using this method of encoding.

LVDS

Low voltage differential signaling. Used with flat-panel displays, such as a laptop computer display.

MRD

Market requirements document.

MSAA

Multi-sample anti-aliasing.

NTSC

National Television System Committee. An analog TV standard used primarily in North and Central America, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. Its resolutions are based on 525-line systems. Compare PAL.

OSAL

Operating system abstraction layer. An API that provides access to operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and Linux.

Open pluggable specification

The open pluggable specification helps standardize the design and development of digital signage devices and pluggable media players. Intel created the OPS to address digital signage market fragmentation and simplify device installation, usage, maintenance, and upgrades.

Option ROM (OROM)

Code that is integrated with the system BIOS and resides on a flash chip on the motherboard. The Intel® embedded video BIOS is an example of an option ROM.

OPS

See open pluggable specification.

OS

Operating system.

PAL

Phase alternating lines. An analog TV standard used in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. Its resolutions are based on 625-line systems. Compare NTSC.

PAVP

Protected audio/video path. PAVP protects the data path within a computer during video playback (e.g., Blu-ray* discs). It is supported by newer chipsets (e.g., Intel® GM45 Express Chipset) and operating systems (Windows Vista, Windows 7). PAVP does the video decoding in the chipset to reduce processor load. PAVP is a mechanism to get the application and the graphics hardware to secretly agree on the same encryption key.

PCF

Parameters configuration file.

PCI

Peripheral component interface.

Port driver

A driver used with the sDVO interfaces of the graphics and memory controller hub (GMCH).

Quarter VGA. A popular term for a computer display with 320 x 240 resolution. QVGA displays are most often seen within mobile phones, PDAs, and some handheld game consoles. Often the displays are in a portrait orientation rather than landscape and are referred to as 240 x 320.

Rendering

Generating an image from a model using automated calculations. The model uniformly describes three dimensional objects.

Reserved memory

A region of physical memory in a Windows* CE system set aside for BIOS, VBIOS, and graphics driver operations. Reserved memory can be configured for use by the operating system and other applications when not in use by the BIOS.

Saturation

Monitors and scanners are based on the additive color system using RGB, starting with black and then adding red, green, and blue to achieve color. Saturation is the colorfulness of an area judged in proportion to its brightness. Full saturation of RGB gives the perception of white, and images are created that radiate varying amounts of RGB, or varying saturation of RGB.

The process of altering a color based on its angle to lights and its distance from lights to create a photorealistic effect.

Single display configuration

A type of display configuration that supports one and only one display device.

SQCIF

Sub-QCIF video format resolution, smaller than QCIF but still evenly divisible by 16 pixels in each dimension to correspond with the size of a macroblock. Its resolution is 128 x 96. See CIF definition above.

SSC

Spread spectrum clock.

Stolen memory

A region of physical memory (RAM) set aside by the system BIOS for input and output operations. The amount of stolen memory is configurable. Stolen memory is not accessible to the operating system or applications.

System BIOS

The standard BIOS used for basic input and output operations on PCs.

Tizen*/Moblin*

Tizen* is an Intel-sponsored open-source operating system for building a Linux*-based platform for mobile devices, including tablets, smartphones, and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Moblin* was an earlier open-source operating system that merged with Maemo* in 2009 to create MeeGo*, which the Linux Foundation canceled in September 2011 in favor of Tizen.

TMDS

Transitioned minimized differential signaling. Used with DVI displays, such as plasma TVs.

TNL or T&L

Transform and lighting. Transform performance determines how complex objects can be and how many can appear in a scene without sacrificing frame rate. Lighting techniques add to a scene's realism by changing the appearance of objects based on light sources.

TOM

Top of memory.

TSR

Terminate and stay resident. A program that is loaded and executes in RAM, but when it terminates, the program stays resident in memory and can be executed again immediately without being reloaded into memory.

Twin-display configuration

A type of display configuration that supports two display devices each of which has the same content, resolution, and timings. Compare clone display configuration. Note: Twin configuration is not supported on the Intel SCH US15W chipset and Intel Atom processor E6xx series.

UBS

User build system. A process for building a VBIOS.

UEFI

Unified extensible firmware interface, a boot loader and runtime interface between platform firmware and an operating system. The goal of the interface is to replace the aging PC BIOS.

VBIOS

Video basic input/output system. A component of system BIOS that drives graphics input and output.

Video graphics array. A graphics display standard developed by IBM that uses analog signals rather than digital signals.

VLD

Variable length decoding.

VMR

Video mixing render.

WHQL

Windows Hardware Quality Labs. WHQL is a testing organization responsible for certifying the quality of Windows drivers and hardware that run on Windows operating systems.

WPF

Windows Presentation Foundation.

Xinerama*

Xinerama is an extended desktop-like mode for Linux and Moblin operating systems. From a hardware perspective, Xinerama is comprised of two frame buffers, two pipes, and two ports. Linux X-Server uses the term "Xinerama" to describe an extension that presents the multiple independent displays to the user as a single, large virtual framebuffer. Like Windows XP* Extended, separate areas of the virtual framebuffer map to each of the independent display framebuffers. The X-Server has some restrictions associated with this extension: All displays must be the same color depth and accelerated OpenGL* (OGL) is disabled. Linux X-Server without the Xinerama extension does not have the extra layer to combine the displays so each display's framebuffer is independently addressable by the user/application.

YUV

Informal but imprecise reference to the video image format, Y'CbCr. The Y' component is luma, a nonlinear video quality derived from RGB data denoted without color. The chroma components, Cb and Cr, correspond nonlinearly with U and V as differences between the blue and luma, and between the red and luma, respectively.